Sen. Mitch McConnell greeted by angry protesters for third straight day

FRANKFORT – For the third consecutive day, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was greeted by angry protesters before speaking at an event in downtown Covington.

McConnell was in northern Kentucky to address members of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce as well as the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.

The concerns of the protesters ranged from repeal of the Affordable Care Act, President Trump’s involvement with Russia, the loosening of EPA regulations and the feeling that McConnell was not listening to them.

Bill Whalen, of Florence, took part in the rally because he is concerned about some individuals losing benefits with a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“They’ve had years and years and years to repeal Obamacare, I’ve never heard a solution to what they want to replace it with,” Whalen said. “They don’t have a plan. They need to get their act together.”

Another concern of many, like Debbie from Covington, was the fact that they felt like the Senate Majority Leader was not listening to them.

“We are tired of him not listening to his constituents, not showing up, not speaking to us, ignoring us in support of corporate interests,” Debbie said. “We want him to stand up to the current administration.”

McConnell said after his speech is that he has listened and understands the protesters concerns. He just disagrees with them.

“They have a fundamentally different view of what America ought to be,” McConnell said. “We just had an election in November and the American people decided not to take their advice and go into a different direction.

One man at the rally, David Edwards, Sr. of Burlington, showed up with a Trump shirt and sign supporting the President which got the attention of many of the protesters, but there were no altercations other than some holding signs in front of Edwards.

Edwards said that he had only one message for the protesters.

“I love Donald Trump and I love America,” Edwards said. “Can’t we all just get along?”

Two of the protesters got tickets to the event and interrupted McConnell twice during his address to the friendly crowd inside.

McConnell believes that the protests in Kentucky the last three days, as well as around the country have been orchestrated by the Democratic Party to get attention.

“The Kentucky Democratic Party is actively promoting this,” McConnell said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s not legitimate. I’m not suggesting that these are not legitimate complaints, but they’re coming from active, involved Democrats.”

Don Weber

Don Weber is a Video Journalist for Spectrum News and covers politics and education on Pure Politics, Kentucky’s only nightly program dedicated to state politics. Don is a lifelong Kentuckian and a graduate of Northern Kentucky University. He spent many years covering sports in the Northern Kentucky area before shifting primarily to politics. You can watch Don’s work weeknights at 7:00 and 11:30 on Pure Politics, available exclusively on Spectrum News, HD Channels 403 and 715. If you have a story idea you can reach Don at donald.weber@charter.com.